How Do You Develop a (Arcane) Prestige Class?

[Aluvial]

I'm trying to develop a special prestige class the focuses on a particular type of magic; say wall magic.

I'm really stuck with the design. I've not found another arcane prestige class that does this in my books, and am wondering how you go about the design.

I imagine that hit die is easy, so is BAB and Saves. Just follow other arcane prestige classes.

My problem lies in the special abilitites, when to give them, and how many spell levels to give.

How do you determine these things so that it isn't overpowered?

Also, how do you develop prerequisites for a prestige class?

Thanks for the help!

Aluvial

 

[Scion]

it is more of an art than a science really.

figure out what exactly you want them to do, what sort of abilities and flavor you want it to have.

Come up with some prereqs that make it feel how you want it. Along with forcing whatever minimum level you want it to come in at.

Typically, the more prereqs you make someone have plus the less useful those are the more powerful the prc can be to a certain degree.

Giving up a certain amount of caster levels allows one to really put up a lot stronger of abilities as well overall.

Having a caster level lost at first level and some sort of entry ability that helps define the calss is pretty easy to do. Along with giving up the last level of caster and some pretty major ability. Several other abilities given throughout (usually at least one minor ability each level) helps form up the class.

Fix up something you like, give it a good write up, try to be as thorough as possible and toss it up on houserules asking for help

Edit: oh, and about balance, you just have to test it out and see how it goes. The more one gives up and specializes the more powerful it can be.

 

[Aluvial]

I see a prestige class' abilities being similar to a Cleric's Domains spells.

One per level. Class development has been a bit odd for me. I just not sure how to balance whether you should get a cool ability, or a small ability and a spell level or both big ability and spell level.

I'll come up with something and put it in house rules.

I definitely could use some good ideas though...

Aluvial

 

[Scion]

put up at least the question on houserules. Tell them what sort of guy you want and ask if anyone can help. Perhaps you will get some bites or maybe someone will know of one already made that you can modify to suit your taste.

you can always put up what you think of later, might as well get the ball rolling through. Be as specific as you can and as many details as possible. Some people run more off of the fluff side and some more off the crunch side.

 

[dvvega]

What you propose would seem to fit into the 5 level prestige class that the Teleporter PrC is. Its a slight specialisation in a direction with a specific spell/spell type ... go with that as a start.

 

[Kerrick]

What I do when making PrCs is to first figure out what level I want to set it at. That is, what level should the PC be before he can take it? The prereqs are then set based roughly on that level, as well as being centered around the class - a fire elementalist class, for instance, could require Elemental Focus [Fire] and 9 ranks in Knowledge (the planes). Knowledge (arcana) and/or Spellcraft are usually good choices for prereq skills, depending on what you want to do; setting the minimum caster level (ability to cast x level spells) is also a common and easy method.

As for abilities: I usually do my plotting in a notebook, so I scribble down 1-10, vertically, I leave a space open for a column, then I write down a bunch of possible abilities beside that. I tend to do related scaling abilities - for example, he can summon a small elemental at third level, a medium at 6th, and a large at 9th.

And once I've gotten all that, I decide if the class gets spellcasting progression, and if so, what kind. Only a weak class should get full progression; mid-power classes could get 1/2 or so (I did a class with 4/10, but it was a cleric/ranger).

But really, like Scion said, it's more of an art than a science - you just have to eyeball it and use your own discretion (and post it here for other folks' opinions too ).

 

[Aluvial]

Ok, here is my first attempt...

Thanks for the help so far.

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=114067

Aluvial

 

[reanjr]

I'm trying to develop a special prestige class the focuses on a particular type of magic; say wall magic.

I'm really stuck with the design. I've not found another arcane prestige class that does this in my books, and am wondering how you go about the design.

I imagine that hit die is easy, so is BAB and Saves. Just follow other arcane prestige classes.

My problem lies in the special abilitites, when to give them, and how many spell levels to give.

How do you determine these things so that it isn't overpowered?

Also, how do you develop prerequisites for a prestige class?

Thanks for the help!

Aluvial

I start with special class abilities. If the class abilities are more flavor than utility, I give them full spell progression. If they make the caster more powerful in some way, I give them half-progression. I then check the power level. If they seem decently powered compared to wizards, they get +1/2 BAB, d4 HD, 1 good save, 2 skill points per level. If they are weaker than wizards, I increase one or more of those things until it seems good. I would never increase HD greater than d6 or BAB greater than +3/4, though, and probably not both. Just depends on the flavor of the class. For a wall wizard, one might suppose that they are pretty big on defense, so HD might be a good place to increase, if necessary.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'm trying to develop a special prestige class the focuses on a particular type of magic; say wall magic.

I'm really stuck with the design. I've not found another arcane prestige class that does this in my books, and am wondering how you go about the design.

I imagine that hit die is easy, so is BAB and Saves. Just follow other arcane prestige classes.

My problem lies in the special abilitites, when to give them, and how many spell levels to give.

How do you determine these things so that it isn't overpowered?

Also, how do you develop prerequisites for a prestige class?

Thanks for the help!

Aluvial

1) Before you start, consider if what you are looking forward is a progression of abilities or a set of abilities. If there is no progression, a Prestige Class isn't the best solution: feats can work better and are far more simple. If you think there's going to a progression, it can still be made into feats, but a PrCl develops something by the level (while you get a feat every 3 levels) which makes the progression smoother.
Also keep in mind that feats can have prerequisites to give you control over when those abilities can be taken.

2) Since your concept is pretty easy (specialization which doesn't imply very big changes), you're going to give same HD, BAB, ST, skill points, class skills, proficiencies as the core arcane classes.

3) Think of what the Wizard and the Sorcerer are losing from their core class levels: the familiar progression and the bonus feats (Wiz only). That may seem a small loss, but I would seriously think twice before slowing down the spell progression. Lose more than 1-2 levels, and there's not very many arcane casters who'd take all the levels of that PrCl. Therefore, I'd suggest to keep the extra features low-powered.

4) Go as far as you need with levels. Don't bother to reach level 10 if you're out of ideas. If the player later wants more, you can write more levels in the PrCl.

5) Prerequisites are fun, but sometimes not so fun. Try to give them some sense! If the PrCl is easy to get into (sounds to me that everyone may want to specialise in Wall spells...), just put ONE easy requisite to fix a minimum level (such as Spellcraft 8 ranks) and obviously require the character to know some Walls beforehand (such as must know at least 3 walls spells). I know the latter sounds extremely generic, but if you're going to use this PrCl in your game, don't bother with formalities!!! Check with your players's spells known, and tell them which spells count as "Walls".
Also, completely avoid wasted requisites (such as unuseful feats or skills) to make the player pay for further benefits.